Wouldn’t it be great if the only thing you had to worry about in life was finding the perfect spot in the sun on a lazy afternoon? I think so.

Sunny days (still a little chilly though) are finally here and the dogs couldn’t be happier. Hopefully in a month or so we’ll get to turn on the sprinklers. That’s a whole other kind of happiness for them.

Last year I did a wine/yarn/knitting swap on Ravelry and since it was so much fun I decided to do it again this year. Look at my loot :)

First off the wine – it’s a chardonnay (my fav white wine) from Abundance Vinardys in Lodi, CA, close to where I’m originally from. Of course I’ve opened it already and it’s delish! Next, the yarn. It’s a hank of Dream in Color Smooshy sock yarn, that you can hardly see because it’s a dark blue/purple. It’s going to be a beautiful pair of socks for work. Also in the box were a set of beautiful palmwood knitting needles from Laurel Hill, a candle for the kitchen in the scent of Olive Oil and lastly a recipe for Butternut Squash Rossitto – yummy! Since hubby isn’t a fan of either butternut squash or rossitto I’ll be making this all for myself very soon :)
Thanks lazymary, my Ravelry swap pal, for the great box!

I’m bragging today. For a newbie gardener I think I’m doing a pretty good job at not killing all my plants! I took these pictures last night.

Now that we have consistently warm weather everything is growing like crazy! I’m patiently waiting for my tomatoes to turn red. Those suckers are taking forever!

This is my biggest one and I’m hoping it’s on the verge of ripening. I can’t wait to make a caprese salad with these suckers and my basil! Oh and some homemade salsa with my cilantro and jalapeno.

Speaking of my jalapeno plant:

I have one little guy whose growing fast. Lots of other little buds though.

My squash have taken off and would over run the whole garden if I let them. I got a packet of seeds that were a mixture of various squash so it’s been kind of a surprise to me what is actually going to grow. So far I can tell I have a yellow squash:

And a couple of round-type squash:

You can hardly see it in this picture, but it’s something I’ll have to look up. Regardless, I’ll be doing lots with squash in the next month or so :)

The sugar snap peas are taller than I expected them to be and my carrots are doing great. The watermelon plants have been very slow, but with the hots days we’ve had recently I’m seeing more growth on them. The bell peppers are being extremely slow and I’m wondering if I’ll get anything off of those this summer.

I shouldn’t say it out loud, but I think summer is finally here. Warmer days are on the way. Hopefully that means more growth for my vegetables, which I transplanted outside into my little container garden. Here is my little set up:

Daisy has to check out everything :)

In the first pot I have three squash plants that I started in peat pods. They are doing really good and have new growth on them since I transplanted them last week

(See what I mean about Daisy??!!)

The next container has a few watermelon plants and my sugar snap peas. Oh, and a row of carrots that just popped through the soil. I didn’t realize how long carrots took and was about to give up on them. So exciting to see all those little sprouts!

My tomato plant is still growing at a weed-like pace. I counted 7 little tomatoes on it just now and there are a lot more flowers on it.

In the last container I have my bell peppers, cilantro and more watermelon. Yes, we are big fans of watermelon here. Oh and another row of carrots. Hopefully in my next update you’ll be able to see the carrots a little better.

And finally, the newest member of the garden:

A jalepeno plant! It’s going to go great with my tomatoes and cilantro in homemade salsa!

It’s almost the middle of June, but you wouldn’t know it by the weather here in Idaho. The spring we have had has been very cold, windy and rainy. I have a feeling it’s going to go from cold to hot very quickly here. So much for living in a place with all four seasons. Anytime we get a little sun I get excited, head up the road to Lowe’s garden center and buy flowers and vegetable plants only to be disappointed when the temperatures dip down again and all my plants die.

I changed it up this year. I’m starting most of my veggies and fruits from seeds. All of the plants I bought have either withered up and died or are on the verge. So far, I’m having luck with the seeds and peat pods. I’m hoping since it’s close to the middle of June I’m in the clear to plant these in the raised containers I have ready and waiting.

Here are pics of my progress:

My tomato plant. The only plant I bought that is growing like a weed. Yep, so far I’ve given up on the topsy turvy. At least for now. I’m glad I did, because I have a feeling this plant is going to produce much better than last years plant. So far I already have four little tomatoes.

An early birthday present from my hubby – a meyer lemon tree. I came home to this today. I’ve only been wanting one for a couple of years now.

Here are my first seedlings. A mix of bell peppers and watermelon. I know, a weird combo. But they were the seed packages that said to start them the earliest. This weekend they will be in the “ground”.

Sugar snap peas (one of my favorite snacks) that have done so good in the last few days. They too will be planted this weekend.

And basil. The plant I bought is doing o.k., but the seeds I added to the pot are doing great. I’m doing other herbs also: some rosemary, chives, cilantro and dill. The dill is the only one not doing so well. I have left over seeds so maybe once it’s warm consistently I’ll try again because it did so well last year!

I’m keeping my fingers crossed for summer to stick around for a while.

Has it really been since November that I’ve posted? I have no idea where the time went. Well, I’m back. And although some days I feel like I’ve run out of things to say and post here I will keep up with my knitting and cooking posts. I guess life just got in the way of blogging for the last 6 months.

I have been knitting and cooking and attempting to garden. All the usual stuff I used to blog about, I just haven’t been good at keeping this site up to date. I’ll try to do better in the future. I have pictures to post, recipes to share and stories to bore you with :)

Yep, I’ve been playing around with dying my own yarn. I got four hanks of bare yarn for my birthday and am loving making my own colors for sock yarn. So far I’ve dyed three of the hanks and I’m contemplating what to do with the fourth. I used an article from Knitty as a guide, found here. It is so stickin’ easy. And I’m in love with the colors that came out.

First I used Grape. I under estimated the number of packets I would need and it came out much lighter than I expected.

This has already been knit up into a pair of Jaywalkers. With lots of yarn leftover. I may need a pair of matching hand warmers. Or even a beanie. (Knit Picks Bare yarn does not skimp on yardage!)

Next I did Strawberry

I absolutely love this color. This has Christmas socks written all over it. In fact, I’ve started a pair of Broadripples and they are turning out great!

And the third color I did was Lemon Lime. Love this color too!

This is another yarn that will soon become a Christmas present. It’s the perfect green for one of my step-daughters.

And did you get that? I’ve already started on my holiday knitting. This year I’m breaking out of my selfish knitting and making gifts for other people. Only those who will truly appreciate it, but it makes me feel good to be gifting some that I put so much of my time and love into. Some extra days off here and there are really helping me get a jump start on all the knitting too.

Yep, I’ve knit myself another pair of socks. I really am running out of room in my sock drawer. At least my feet will be nice and warm this winter :)

My latest creation:

I picked up some Regia Silk sock yarn on sale at my LYS (so much for using up what I already have on hand) and started these right away. I love this yarn. So soft and easy to knit. I did Kim’s mini-cable pattern and I love the way the pattern really stands out in this yarn.

I have so much sock yarn it’s not even funny. I think I’ll break out of my seflishness and knit some socks for Christmas presents this year. Or find other uses for sock yarn. We’ll see.